Well here we are!!! It’s 3 days until we play our first match and after months of talking about this momentous project, it’s happening this weekend. The UK will be represented at the European Futsal Championships for people with Diabetes, for the very first time ( DiaEuro 2018 , www.diaeuro.org ).
I wake up every day feeling privileged to have started The Diabetes Football Community and to be leading projects like this…. They make all the difference to the people who interact with us and seek us out for support. I hope that our endeavours continue to provide comfort, inspiration and a smile for all those who share in the challenges of Diabetes on a daily basis… We want to prove that this condition holds no boundaries for those living with it as long as we achieve good management. Sometimes this is easier said than done, but it’s important we attempt to provide positive news stories for those with the condition when much negativity, ignorance and stereotyping is still evident throughout the media and society in the United Kingdom.
With so much going on I’ve found it very challenging to write anything on the blog for a while so it’s nice to find just an hour to share some thoughts ahead of DiaEuro and talk about our camp on the 14th of July.
The day was all about bringing the squad together to get to know each other, enhance their tactical and technical understanding of Futsal and ultimately play their first ever game as a squad. For me, all of those things were achieved and more. The team really did surpass all of our expectations as a management team and with expectations for us at DiaEuro low, I’ll be encouraging the boys to just go and give a good account of ourselves, with a smile on our faces. The tournament isn’t all about winning (try telling our squad that!), because it’s also about raising awareness of type 1 diabetes, its challenges and trying to develop greater levels of support across Europe for those living with it. As a collective we can’t wait to participate in this wonderful event and win, lose or draw it’s an incredible opportunity for all of us to represent our condition firstly and our nation secondly at this tournament.
We’d set out a jam packed day where the guys needed to arrive at the university of Worcester at 8:45am (Sorry lads!) as we wanted to spend the morning developing their tactical knowledge before implementing it in our friendly in the afternoon. Myself and Paul had come up with a plan on Friday for delivery and having seen how the team performed in the friendly we were absolutely chuffed that they’d taken on the knowledge we’d shared with them as that’s all you want from a coach’s perspective!
Alongside the hectic morning of coaching, Harley and Jahna were also busy planning their sessions for our lunch time break. Harley wanted to deliver a session specifically aimed at team cohesion and bringing the squad closer together ahead of the European championships, whilst Jahna wanted to capture some more in depth information from a medical perspective about the squad. This gave the lads an opportunity to catch a break!! They also got the chance to come and collect their matchday kit and tracksuits from me!! I think this was one of the parts they were most excited about having had a preview over social media… I think the kit looks great and thank you to www.movingforwardsports.co.uk for supplying us with it.
After all that we were lucky enough to get into our first match, which was a resounding success and we came away with such positivity! A massive thank you to our opponents, Duncan our referee and the university of Worcester for hosting this momentous occasion for us…
Now we move onto Saturday the 21st of July 2018… The day it all begins. The journey and the tournament await and we’re soooo excited.
My hope is that this team inspires people across the UK whom may be newly diagnosed or finding life with type 1 diabetes tough to think it is possible, the condition doesn’t have to stand in your way and that no matter what barrier it puts in front of us we can overcome it!
11 men all living with Type 1 Diabetes, pulling on a shirt to represent a condition and a country……. To know we’ve set about bringing that to life fills me with so much pride I find it hard to explain.
A huge thank you to our wonderful supporters and sponsors Dexcom, Gluco, Havas Lynx and the University of Worcester in allowing us to get us there because without you this wouldn’t have been possible!
Sunday the 22nd of July 2018, history will be made.
Thank you as always for your support,
Chris
